Michael R GuzikVerified account

To be inspired by what they do, at the level they perform at given their age shows what hard work and dedication to your craft can achieve. When age can get you cancelled or made to feel irrelevant but instead hard work is paying off.

To anyone who compares how you look to either of these individuals and you haven't also been working on your body relentlessly day in and day out for all these years is self defeating. These individuals get paid to use their bodies to perform at a very high level.

To all the women out there that compared their bodies to J Lo at 50 or Shakira at 43, I say please don't. However, if you are the first female partner in that law firm, you succeed in that IT department, you've seen countless of your students go on to do great things, as a doctor

you are saving lives, you can balance your companies budget and the one you manage at home, you are momming so hard right now getting the kids, your husband and yourself out of the house on time - bravo to you.

Yes we need the J Lo's, Shakira's and Tom Brady's of the world to inspire us. To inspire our youth to show them that if you start working on something that you love at an early age with hard work and dedication, no matter what it is, anyone can achieve greatness at any age.

But they also can inspire those of us that are 42, 43, 50 or 44. Our parents were right. Hard work pays. Dedication matters. You can achieve what you dream but you must go to work. Please don't get mad. Don't get frustrated. No time for that.

So go to work. Be the best docent at the Field Museum of Chicago for over 25 years. Be the best IT professional at the city of Chicago for over 30 years. Be dedicated to the Local, State and National PTA for over 40 years. Serve your church for over 60 years.

Because your kids are watching. They saw you work hard every day. They saw what dedication looked like. They realize at 44 that hard work does pay off. If you have a dream get up & do something about it. Know that your family is there for you. Know that they will always love you.